Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Despite laws allowing people to carry guns in state-owned parks in Mississippi – along with most other places in the state -- some state-owned parks in Mississippi continue have strict no-gun policies.

An article published in Mississippi Watchdog last week found a number of parks in the Pascagoula River Basin prohibit firearms altogether.

“Right now, it’s policy that weapons aren’t allowed in the parks,” said Steven Wright, director of the Pat Harrison Waterway District, a state organization that runs the parks. “To allow someone to carry one on their hip and walk around the park with it, no, that’s just a recipe for disaster, in my opinion.”

SB 2862, which passed in 2010, specifically allows gun owners to carry in state parks. State Rep. Andy Gipson said parks that continue to ban guns are in violation of this law.

“A concealed carry license holder should be able to have their firearm concealed, open or however they want to carry it in a public park,” Gipson told Mississippi Watchdog. “With all of those statutes, I don’t see any authority for any state board or district to ban the carrying of firearms for people to protect themselves and their families.”

State parks may be safer than a city street, but they are often hideouts for criminals and other unsavory types, making it all the more necessary that they remain gun-friendly.

“If you’re going to a state park, criminals like to use parks and there all kinds of case where fugitives were arrested at parks on the run because they don’t want to be at a hotel with surveillance cameras, use a credit card and be tracked,” gun rights advocate Rick Ward told Watchdog. ” You’re there with your family and there’s a pervert who’s a fugitive on the run next to you. You should be able to have your gun.”

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Pew Research Center published a poll today revealing that most Americans prefer gun ownership to gun control by a margin of 52 to 46, meaning that support for gun rights has reached another all time high.

The poll says more Americans are coming to support their gun rights because of rising crime, finding “We are at a moment when most Americans believe crime rates are rising and when most believe gun ownership – not gun control – makes people safer.”

Sixty-three percent of Americans said that controlling gun ownership was the best way to prevent crime, meaning that more and more voters are coming to see the value of defensive gun use.

This means that the hypocrites in the White House and the left wing media have had it wrong this entire time. Town Hall reports:

“These numbers suggest that Americans are rejecting the Obama administration's gun control agenda. Two years ago, after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Obama showed real remorse for the young lives lost, yet offered a misguided response by trying to push through anti-gun legislation. His gun control measure, which would have expanded background checks and banned "assault weapons," didn't get very far in Congress. Now, it's clear his gun control agenda is just as unpopular outside Capitol Hill.”

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Democrats in Colorado successfully squashed a repeal of the state’s universal background check law and 15 cartridge magazine cap.

The House Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs voted to indefinitely postpone the two bills, which had previously passed the Republican-controlled Senate.

Senate Bill 86 and 175 were passed in the months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. The former bill would have removed expanded background check language applicable to private sales, while the latter would have repealed the state’s prohibition on the sale, transfer and possession of “large-capacity” magazines.

Colorado’s House Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs also indefinitely postponed House Bill 1169, which would have eliminated gun free zones around the state’s elementary, middle, junior high and high schools and allowed lawful concealed carry on public school grounds.

“I remember fathers coming up to me whose sons I knew well, asking where they were,” Rep. Neville told the Colorado Independent. “People I’d known since elementary school are no longer with us today. I think some of the staff who were heroic in so many ways that day, if they’d had the ability to equip themselves, some of my friends might still be with us.”

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Kansas became the sixth constitutional carry state in the country last week. Now, Ohio is looking to become the seventh.

Kansas governor Sam Brownback signed constitutional carry into law last week, making it legal for law abiding gun owners in the state to concealed carry without a permit (starting this summer). The bill easily passed both chambers of the Kansas legislature earlier this year.

“We have been conditioned to accept licensing, fees, mandatory classes, and other such restrictions,” said Representative Steve Brunk. “Government must trust its law abiding citizens.”

Kansas’ previous concealed carry law passed in 2006.

Less than a week after Governor Brownback signed the law, lawmakers in Ohio introduced similar legislation. The Ohio bill is more comprehensive than the Kansas version, legalizing permit-less concealed carry not only for handguns but also for rifles and shotguns.

However, gun rights supporters in Ohio are skeptical about the bill’s chances.

“I think it would be great to see this become law in Ohio,” said Joe Eaton of the Buckeye Firearms Association. “But, unfortunately in the past, the Ohio legislature has not even been willing to allow a licensed person simple rights.”